Here is one useful tip for effective pointing.
When you point, there are three spots that are important.
- The first is the spot where the jack is sitting.
- The second is the spot where you want your boule to come to rest. Following the old maxim of “boule devant, boule d’argent”, this spot is in front of the jack. There is no standard petanque term for this spot, so I call it the “parking spot”.
- The third is the spot where you want your boule to hit the ground — the landing spot, the donnée. This spot is in front of the parking spot, so the boule can hit the ground and then roll into the parking spot.
The first rule of effective pointing is “Don’t aim for the jack”. Instead —
- First, locate the jack.
- Second, decide where — in front of that — you want your parking spot to be.
- Third, decide where — in front of that — you want your donnée to be.
And then aim for the donnée.
This is one of the first things that any experience pointer will teach a new player. Here, for instance, is Marco Foyot.
After picking the parking spot, pick the landing spot.
Throw your boule to the landing spot – the donnée
… and let it roll to the parking spot.
You can watch Marco giving the pointing lesson on YouTube.
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